


4 am

by hazey_sloths



Category: All For The Game - Nora Sakavic
Genre: All For The Game - Freeform, Andreil, M/M, TFC, aftg, david wymack - Freeform, kevin day - Freeform, the foxhole court - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-03-21
Updated: 2017-03-21
Packaged: 2018-10-08 22:52:23
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 982
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10397961
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/hazey_sloths/pseuds/hazey_sloths
Summary: Neil, Andrew, and Kevin get some tough news.





	

The phone rings at 4 am. At first, neither of them stirs. It’s starts as a muffled vibration before the first chords of Andrew’s ringtone begin to play hazily from somewhere underneath a pile of clothes.

Slowly, Neil wakes. Reluctantly, he shrugs himself out from Andrew’s arm and reaches into the cold air to search for his phone. Andrew moves, arm stretching to grab the waistband of Neil’s pants. Voice still heavy with sleep, he slurs, “Who’s that?”

Neil finds the phone, squinting against the sudden light and reads the name on the display. “It’s Abby? I’ll get it. Go back to sleep.” He flips the phone open just in time.

“Andrew?” Abby’s voice is wobbly, like she is struggling to breathe. Does she have a cold?

“It’s Neil. Abby, what’s up?” Neil asks. He lays back down next to Andrew, who is almost back to sleep. One of the cats jumps on the bed and curls up against Neil’s legs.

Abby makes a sound. “Neil, it’s David.”

At this, Neil sits up. He rubs the sleep from his eyes and gets off the bed to walk towards the door of their bedroom. “Abby what happened?”

“He passed away,” she answers. He hears her sob, before she adds, “It was a heart attack.”

He doesn’t know what to say. All he can really manage is a weak and choked, “I’m so sorry, Abby.”

She says something else but he doesn’t hear it. There is a roar in his ears, loud like the sea. He hears the faint noise of the call ending and his world tilts sideways. Neil feels his legs collapse from under him. He tries to catch himself before he makes a noise and wakes Andrew. But he only succeeds in bumping against the door frame.

His knees hit the floor, followed by his hand and then he sucks in a horrible breath. It makes his chest ache, makes him retch. Nothing comes up. Part of him is glad nothing is in his stomach. But he also wishes there was something. Because then the tightness of his ribs and muscles would at least stop.

He crawls to the couch, another choking noise coming from somewhere inside him. He realizes it’s because he needs to cry. His body needs this release. But he hasn’t processed what Abby has said yet. He knows it. He just hasn’t digested it.

Wymack can’t be dead. The man he came to respect and care for. The man who fought tooth and nail to keep him, who gave him chance after chance. The man who first started putting Neil together. The man who gave him a reason to hope, a reason to trust. It can’t be possible. Wymack was invincible, fierce as they came. He would spit in death’s face, wouldn’t he?

Neil gasps, pulling in air as he curls against the couch. He can’t even find the strength to get onto it. He curls up, bringing his knees to his aching chest and tries not to cry. He bites his knuckles as hard as he possibly can, until he tastes blood. The salt of his own tears shock him as they chase the metallic taste of blood down his throat to settle uneasily in his stomach. He bites harder. He can’t wake Andrew.

“Neil what’s going on?” Andrew frames the door of the bedroom, lamp light streams out behind him. His arms at crossed and King circles his legs. Slowly, Neil looks up to meet his eyes. The second Andrew sees the tears, he is at Neil’s side. His hand grips the back of Neil’s neck tightly. Fingers pry his jaw apart, forcing mangled knuckle from bloody teeth. “Neil!”

Neil struggles to pull in a breath. He hasn’t felt grief like this since his mother died. It tears his insides apart, lights them aflame and burns whatever is left of the ashes. “Wymack is gone. He’s dead, Andrew.”

Neil feels Andrew stiffen. His voice is gravel, rough as he tries to rein in his emotions. “What?”

“Heart attack,” Neil mumbles. It hits him then. The death of a dead friend, the closest Neil had had to a parent since his mother. He collapses against Andrew, body shaking with the heavy cries. “He’s gone, Andrew. He’s gone. He’s gone. Coach is gone.”

Resigned, Andrew reaches for the phone. Neil sees the way grief pulls at the muscles beneath the skin of Andrew’s jaw. He can hear the defeated tone in his voice. All Andrew says is, “Kevin.”

Kevin Day. Kevin who was afraid to tell David Wymack that he was his son. Kevin who learned to love his father and though it was hard, stuck it out like he did everything else. Kevin who had a daughter and a wife and finally a parent to teach him all the things he didn’t know how to do. Kevin and David who slowly became like father and son. Kevin who had gained a parent. Kevin who had just lost a parent.

Neil sits up. “Andrew, he won’t answer the phone.”

“He will if I’m calling,” Andrew says. He’s right. Kevin answers everyone but he never answers anyone at night. Kevin loves his sleep. And the only person he will pick up for will be Andrew. Because Andrew never calls him unless it is important.

The phone only rings twice before Kevin picks up. Andrew puts him in speaker just in time for them both to hear the way Kevin’s voice pleads for some kind of comfort. “Andrew? Oh god.”

“I’m sorry,” Andrew says. And he means it. 

Andrew doesn’t leave Neil’s side. And he doesn’t hang up as Kevin’s grief comes through on the phone. They sit in pained silence as the sun rises, three boys who had been lost. Three boys who needed someone to guide them. Three boys who needed a father and just lost him.


End file.
